Migrants - just curious......

[sunshinewithrain]

Are they genuinely so desperate that they will get in a rubber dingy to cross a dangerous sea to get to England?
OR
Are they 'sold' a dream?
OR
A mixture of both! And we don'it understand it properly .......
It's so sad all these people dying trying to cross the sea in such a dangerous way ......

Theyre sold a dream by smuggling gangs on social media, agents in their home towns and relatives home and here already.

The vast majority are economic migrants, not refugees. Albania is not at war, Iran is not at war, Eritrea is not at war. Syria and Afghanistan, understandable.

My biggest issue is those willing to put their babies and children on the dinghies. If adults want to do something stupid, fine. But don't put your children through it.

In what capacity do you work with asylum seekers and refugees because this is not my experience of working with them at all. Asylum seekers are treated like animals with a few £s to feed their families on.

Ah ok sorry interpreted your £400 figure wrong. Yeah the trafficking fee is an investment I suppose but it still doesn't explain where they are getting the money upfront.

I work in adult education, part of which includes the education of immigrants of many circumstances and backgrounds.

The top countries for Channel migration:
Albania.
Syria.
Eritrea.
Afghanistan.
Iran.

Not that many speak English. None of them were part of the British Empire.

Only Afghanistan has strong links to Britain thanks to Tony Blair.

The rest are economic migrants.

I believe it’s often younger people being sold the dream by the traffickers and their families. The family will pay the required fee for the transportation and the final goal is for the younger people to find work and support the family back at home. I am absolutely sure it will be a mixture of desperation and duty.

France is quite different. As visitors from the UK we don't see the casual and institutional racism that's widespread in the cities etc.

Of those arriving in Europe it's a small minority who come to the UK. Mostly because they've family or kith/kin here or they're from places where English is widespread.

I'm not saying that some are not sold a dream but it's not the main driver.

Afghanistan had links to Britain long before Blair stuck his oar in!!

Eritrea had a significant period under British administration.

Albanians were, for the most part, trying it on and after we agreed a returns policy they've dropped down the league table!!

They have already fled from war ... they are safe in France, Turkey etc. They are then getting in a dinghy to get to UK.

A few commenters focusing on France being a safe country but may have family or links already in the UK and want to be reunited. The majority of people fleeing their country will settle in the closest neighbouring country. Think about it, it’s easier, more chance of being able to go back to your old life, less language barriers. People don’t make the trek across Europe unless they really feel they need to.

If you think they're safe in France never mind Turkey you need a head wobble.

This makes sense and we'll see establish practise strain as numbers continue to increase

France generally is a racist country. They know in the UK, they can keep their heads down, obey the law once asylum is granted and make something of their lives. Plus english is a secondary language in most of the world. France also has benefits etc. they don’t want to be dependent on benefits all their life, they want to belong to somewhere where they can be part of something.

Most know nothing about welfare benefits before they arrive and had no expectation that they would receive financial support.

How do you know that for sure though?
People often say that when refugees pick specifically the UK, they do it because they already have friends or family here. Surely those people will tell them about what kind of support is available.

See this bbc article and you will know what I mean

You're entitled to your opinion; I differ.

Which is fine.

Unfortunately I imagine they don't understand the actual rules about asylum and that they can stay in the eu.
They will have come from vastly different political systems so why would they understand the liberal West?

The difference is… they will never want to stay at that level. Most british families who are in cyclical poverty and have multiple generations on benefits will see it as a normal way of life. Most migrants will not. They know that they can earn 10x that when they train up.

No, they are not sold a dream. Grown-up people are sold a dream by the Open University, saying 'do this course and you will become this and that at the age of 50' - that is selling a dream. Migrants know that they can take the piss here. I travel in Europe a lot and my German partners before Merkel's madness, told me how Germans dealt with asylum seekers in Germany.
Firstly, almost all of them lie - they say there are from a locality, torn by war. German government used to hire phonetics experts to interview them - this is how they immediately weeded out those lying about the country they are from. And they were very strict with deportations - I shall never forget how they said one Indian asylum seeker who was refused asylum was deported (he cited religious persecution). Before his flight was to take off, he somehow got hold of and swallowed small scissors, and asked for urgent medical treatment. The immigration called in two surgeons to assess him. They did and came up with the solution - if he were to be immobilised for the duration of the flight, he could be operated on in India. So the two surgeons devised a semblance of a wooden pallet and he was fixed to the wooden pallet and transported like that, on the plane, to India. They told me about it 20 years ago and to this day I can't forget the barbarity of the two German surgeons. It kept me thinking of how easy it is for Germany to slide into far right again - those two surgeons were presumably cultured, civilised people.

I wouldn't say easy street but the rest of your post is accurate.

If you've paid thousands and travelled thousands of miles to better your life, wouldn't you go an extra 22 miles to somewhere you speak some of the language, have a friend of a friend or relative, and have been told you can get work?

The reason why france is such a broken country is that millions of those migrants are treated like second class citizens and kept in areas that are starting to resemble the second class housing that black americans were systematical forced to reside in… Ghettos. I have worked in multiple industries where I have seen multiple skilled 2nd generation migrants leave france for better career prospects in Uk/Usa/EU.